Yahoo has announced the next iteration of its mobile offering, Yahoo Go 3.0. The new beta product will compete with Google, Apple, and others making a push for the handset market. In related news, Yahoo! introduced a similar mobile home page experience for select mobile browsers.
The new Yahoo Go is a free downloadable application compatible with about 30 different handsets so far. The company said that several phone manufacturers, such as Motorola and LG Electronics, had already agreed to make Yahoo’s software available on their phones. Yahoo’s Go 3.0 software is already compatible with a number of BlackBerrys, Nokias, and Sony Ericssons.
Developers will be able to write a single mini-application that will be made available through Yahoo’s Widget Gallery, where users can cherry-pick their favorite widgets to use on their phones. There are already a handful of widgets available from big names like MySpace, MTV, and eBay, and Yahoo said that a full SDK with guidelines would be available “soon.”
Ars Technica says Yahoo’s new Mobile Developer Platform may be a lot like what many are expecting from Apple’s iPhone SDK, Google’s Android or even OpenMoko.
The company also upgraded its “Go” software for mobile phones (which runs widgets outside of the browser). Yang said Yahoo plans to expand its free e-mail service later in the year. Widgets developed for Yahoo’s platform can also run on phones that can’t run the full Yahoo Go. Any phone with a browser that can display plain HTML or XHTML can run the widgets.
Developers who write services to run on Yahoo’s mobile offerings could choose to have Yahoo deliver ads on those services, notes the NY Times.
Seattle-based Zumobi (above), is also taking a widget approach on a variety of Windows Mobile phones.
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